China '09 coke demand seen to exceed 300 million tonnes: paper

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's coke consumption is likely to exceed 300 million tonnes in 2009, exceeding a prior forecast, the official China Securities Journal said on Thursday, quoting the chairman of the China Coking Industry Association.

China's demand for coke, a key ingredient in steel production, would fall to 280 million to 290 million tonnes, down 9 to 12.5 percent from a year earlier, the association had forecast earlier this year.

But higher-than-expected growth in the steel sector improved outlook for coke consumption. If steel production growth is maintained in May and June, total coke consumption will surpass 300 million tonnes, the paper quoted association chairman Huang Jingan as saying.

China, the world's largest steel maker, churned out 45.39 million tonnes of crude steel, equivalent to an annual production of 552.2 million tonnes, more than 10 percent above 2008 output of 500 million tonnes, state media reported.

China produced 126 million tonnes of coke in the first five months of the year, down 7.4 percent on year, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

The bureau is expected to release steel and coke output data for June on Friday.

(Reporting by Rujun Shen and Eric Burroughs; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)